Interview


Filip Francke, CEO, Ravensburger North America


Everything to play for


Having kicked off 2022 with a raft of new games and a €4 million investment in


crowdfunding platform Gamefound, Ravensburger is on a mission to become “the most trusted gaming brand” on a global scale. ToyNews sat down with key players Filip Francke and Thomas Bleyer to fi nd out about the company’s next moves


“


Humans have a need to tell stories and to experience stories, and board games fulfil that need,” says Filip


Francke, CEO of Ravensburger North America and the company’s global head of games. “Living a story, with people coming together around whatever activity it is, gives a sense of belonging, and that is as attractive as it’s ever been.” It’s fair to say that the German company with a storied history, instantly


20 | ToyNews | Spring/Summer 2022


recognisable by its blue triangle logo, takes a more holistic approach to board games than most. Founder Otto Robert Maier, who published the first Ravensburger board game in 1884, reportedly declared, “We’re going to make games and activities for the hand, the head and the heart,” and as Francke explains, that is still very much Ravensburger’s legacy today. “We’re in it for the long run, and we’re doing it for a purpose,” he says. “In a way,


we’re the anti-Metaverse. We see that consumers are looking for moments to be in the present, for moments that really matter. You might want, as an individual, to play a single-player logic game or to do a puzzle, and immerse yourself so you can forget the crazy world around you. But really, we’re trying to make products that bring people together.” The popularity of board games


rocketed during 2020–21, the pandemic


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